It's the Cancer, Stupid

A few weeks ago we learned that one of our teammates lost her brother to blood cancer earlier that week. At Monday's run practice I found out that it was one of my tribemates, a very nice woman whom I've talked to at a few of the practices. She was back at practice and I am really impressed that she is still doing this event despite the enormous loss for her and her family. Hopefully it is helpful for her and her family both to be doing this event in memory of him.

At most of our practices we have a "mission moment" at the beginning where someone gets up and talks about why they do team in training, and usually involves a story of someone they know with some kind of cancer. It's a nice way to focus on the greater purpose of what we are doing and avoid feeling bad about a difficult workout, sore limbs, cold weather, etc. It has also made me think very differently about why I am doing this race with Team in Training. The original motivation -- to get/stay in good shape and do something challenging, is still very much a presence. But the fact that it's for LLS and that people with cancer will benefit from my doing the race has a lot of meaning to me now. It's become a much more profound experience already than any other physical challenge I've done in my life. While there is of course a lot of sadness around cancer, it also feels really good to be doing something that makes a difference in this way.

So, the title of my post, as you probably know, is adapted from the sign on the wall at the Clinton Campaign office "it's the economy, stupid." It's to help remind me what the larger purpose is. Not that I won't continue to talk about the training on this, my training blog. And it won't stop me from complaining on occasion. But I will try to always remember that my struggles in this are nothing compared to what many patients and their families go through.